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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

How to get your picky eater to try new foods?

My son, who is usually very good about trying different
foods, is currently going through a phase that is making him very picky about
what he will eat or if he will even eat for that matter. He went through a
similar phase when he was 16 months or so. His doctor suggested that I keep
some finger food at unexpected places like his book shelf or near his toy box.
If he accidentally discovers it, he will be curious to try it. To my surprise,
the trick worked like a charm. After all, everything new that a 16 month finds
usually goes in his mouth. I was skeptical if this would work with him at this
age.

Recently our friends visited us for dinner with their almost
3 years old son, who has always been a very picky eater. He did not try
anything I had cooked for dinner. Instead, he ate his usual that his mom
carried from home.But when he started
playing with the homemade play dough I had put out for them, he was very quick
and enthusiastic to put that in his mouth and tried it even when his mom tried
to stop him. He happily observed that it was too sour to his taste. This
encouraged me to try my son’s doctor’s trick once again.

As luck would have
it, I had checked out the Boo Boo book from the library.
Boo Boo by Oliver Dunrea is a cute addition to his book
series involving three Goslings. This book is about a Gosling who loves to eat
everything. The attractive illustrations and use of very few words makes it a
perfect picture book for babies who can sit and look at a book to preschoolers
who enjoy pictures as well as the story. Most preschoolers I have read it to,
including my 3 year old find it very funny.

After reading it a few times with my son. I set up a
treasure hunt for food. We were going to look for different animals and eat
their food just like Boo Boo. I had hidden very small portions of corn, peas,
steamed beets, boiled peanuts, carrots, cherry tomatoes, banana slices,
strawberries and grapes, all over the house. When he found carrots, it was
rabbit’s food and corn was chicken’s food. Basically, I just made it up. I
obviously don’t know which animal digs eating beets. He ate them all just like
Boo Boo did. He had been refusing to eat most of those things when offered at
meal time. Some of these items were favorites in the past but he wouldn’t touch
them any more until we did the Boo Boo inspired treasure hunt for food.

I think the trick here is to keep the portions really small
like only couple slices of banana or only 2-3 peanuts etc. And for every new
item you want her to try keep 2 items that she already likes. This activity can
work for kids as young as 15 months to even 5-7 year olds. And even if you
don’t have a picky eater on your hand this will make for a very fun snack time.

I am very happy to report that, since this treasure hunt my
son has a new found love for peanuts and he is at least giving carrots a chance
when coaxed to do so.

About Me

I am a full time employee as a Mom to my 3 year old son and teach hands on engineering and science to kids on weekends and otherwise. I am also required to be a story teller, an arts and craft assistant, cook, event planner, trip advisor, shopping and packing in charge, block builder, problem fixer, and what ever else my 3 year old boss might fancy. This hardly leaves me any time to be an engineer or training & development specialist that I used to be in my past life.